Someone's idea of fun. Photo by Tui Cameron

Speaking of screams, I’ve been musing about zombies lately. Heck- who doesn’t this time of year? The folks who run Zombie Christmas have created a site that’s chock full of the undead, including zombie holiday music.

Another person with zombies on the brain this holiday season is Judie (who I found from the NaBloPoMo December blog roll) In her post, Zombies: Fast or slow? , Judie shares a delightful video called, BTN: Zombies, Fast or Slow, in which the differing creep factor between fast and slow zombies is given the thoughtful academic examination it deserves.

Turns out there are a lot of videos on the subject if you search for this on youtube. This video, for instance, sums up the zombie speed issue in a mere 35 seconds.

Surely, it is only a matter of time before someone produces a Zombie Rom Com musical, something along the lines of, “When Harry Met Zombie.” Anyone want to collaborate on this one?

Today’s photo was taken along the Coney Island boardwalk on a chilly winter day when no one was around. The empty rides and faded signs created a bleak-but-interesting vibe. This Shoot the Freak lot seemed especially creepy.

As for where I stand on the fast or slow zombie debate, I’m leaning towards slow. How about you?

photo by Tui Cameron

Are you sick of Christmas music? If so, you are not alone. Any song gets annoying if you hear it too many times in a row. The first restaurant job I ever had was in a gyro joint where the guy would play “Funky Town,” over and over. Oddly, I still like that song, but it makes me crave falafel every time I hear it. Guess that isn’t the best example, but you get my drift, right? I bet you even quit humming “Feliz Navidad” for a moment, too. Oh, sorry – didn’t mean to get that stuck back in your head.

A simple way to cope with Christmas music burnout is to add new tunes to your holiday collection. You can even do this for free. Thanks to Cora, who blogs over at Better than Fine , I learned that Amazon.com has an offer called 25 Days of Free . It’s like a musical advent calendar, except you get a new holiday tune each day instead of candy.

I’ve collected a wide variety of Christmas music over the years, everything from traditional arrangements to campy stuff. My two favorites, though, have to be “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” by Vince Guaraldi, and the Narada Nutcracker.

If you are a fan of the Nutcracker Suite, you must get this version. What makes it so wonderful is that it was recorded on a 64 track, so they could mic each part separately. The clarity is tremendous. You can hear parts on the Narada Nutcracker that you could only ever hear live before.

Last year, I discovered Woody Phillips, a classically trained cellist, who records his own arrangements of well-known favorites, using hammers, drills and other tools as instruments. You can hear samples of his CD called A Toolbox Christmas on Amazon. Woody’s recording cracks me up, but it’s not like a joke where you get sick of the punchline right away. His CD’s are funny, but they are also musically interesting, and nice to simply listen to.

There’s really no need to get sick of holiday music – at home, anyway. If you work in a place where they play canned music all day, I don’t know what to tell you. Our culture frowns on ritual suicide, so your best bet is to ask your doctor for antidepressants. Of course, there are always ear plugs.

What about you? How do you cope with holiday music overload? Do you have any favorites that cheer you up this time of year?

Happy 2010, everyone! Since I didn’t quite make it through NaBloPoMo in November, I’ve decided to hop into it for this month. So here I am, posting today even though I’m pretty tired from last night’s revelry.

As you can see from the photo above, even the gargoyles caught a chill last week when it surprised us by snowing, not once, but twice. Despite the white sky and the smell of impending snow in the air, I didn’t quite believe that we would get any flakes that would stick.

Tex brought home some bags of wood pellets for us to burn in our wood stove. I call the stuff “fire chow” ‘cuz it looks like the typical Purina-style critter feed.

Although I miss friends and family, I still had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s surrounded by lovely folks, people I didn’t even know this time last year.

Looking back, I find this even more surprising than snow in north Texas.

I expected a lot of nationalism when I moved to Texas, y’know, plenty of flags a-waving, and those culturally myopic “God Bless America” bumper stickers, as though the supreme universal deity cares only for my country. (Hey, I love America, too, but if God plays favorites, I’m gonna tell his mom.) Anyway, patriotism, I understand.

What I did not expect was the Tex-centricness of this particular state. In retrospect, the amount of Texas-shaped things I saw within moments of getting off the plane should have clued me in. On the way to baggage claim, I saw everything from belt buckles, cookies, tattoos, gold pendants, even a dachsund – no, not a Texan-shaped dachsund – but one wearing a sweater with a Texan star proudly stitched on the side.

Yes, it’s pretty hard to forget you are in Texas when you are in Texas; even with a severe head injury, I’ll wager you could figure that one out.

So the other day at Sam’s Club, I came across these Tex-Centric books and laughed. Wait, no, I guffawed (it sounds more Texan to guffaw, doesn’t it?) At any rate, I knew that I must quickly snap some pix to share with those of you who – gasp – live elsewhere.

First off, we have the “Texan Mother Goose,” which features such tales as “Mary Had a White-Faced Calf,” and “There Was an Old Cowgirl Who Lived in a Boot.”

Next, I saw the “Texas Aesop’s Fables,” which features such stories as “The Cowpoke Who Fooled His Friends.”

Next, we have the “Trucker’s Night Before Christmas,” which is written by the same guy who did the Texan Aesop’s fables, so while not all truckers are Texan, there is surely a connection.

Lastly, I came across this little gem, called “Ten Redneck Babies.” What might this be? Why, it’s a a book to teach younguns how to count. Stuff like: “5 redneck babies chomped watermelon. One made tracks – where to? No tellin’!”

Seems that there’s a lot to being Texan. I have much to learn. Wonder where the Texas books for adults are? Hmmm…